The Moab Police Department hosted a three-day Active Shooter Response and Tactics training on June 14 through June 16 at Grand County High School. The exercises were led by Utah Department of Public Safety trainers and staff from the MPD, who walked first responder participants through staged scenarios to practice rescue and response tactics.
“I was overwhelmingly pleased to see that every law enforcement agency—local, state, and federal, along with medical and dispatch—attended in such big numbers,” MPD Assistant Chief Alexander Bell commented to the Moab Sun News. “All of our partners took this very seriously and worked together very well.”
The agency warned residents before the exercise, as the staged scenarios were lifelike and included simulated guns and loud noises.
“Some of the comments we received on Facebook hit the nail on the head with regard to this Active Shooter Training,” Bell said. “It is terrible that we live in a world where First Responders have to be so well trained in handling mass casualty events (in particular active-shooters in schools) but we are grateful that everyone who attended the training last week took it so seriously and worked so hard at understanding the tactics and priorities associated with saving lives in our community.”
The Grand County School District went on lockdown in March of this year after a false call reporting an active shooter–one of many hoax calls in Utah that day.
